Accident at the WSK of Adria, drivers are in quite good condition

Yesterday's was not going to be a Sunday easily forgotten by those present at Adria and by the professionals, because of a serious accident, during the first of the four scheduled finals, which this time risked to end in tragedy.
A "simple" and crazy dynamic that involved the KR drivers, Nicola La Corte, Zach David and Eliska Babickova, the result of very normal racing manoeuvres and without any impropriety on the part of the drivers involved. During the fourth lap of the race, at the end of the first sector and just before the straight line opposite the finish line, La Corte's kart spun off, cutting the escape route and sliding at high speed on the opposite side of the track (sector 2), just as the leading group was passing. The KR of the Italian driver then collided violently with the karts of his brand mates in eighth and tenth place, generating a frightening impact that threw La Corte out of his kart, which ended up many metres ahead. Eliska Babickova and Zach David were involved in what could be classified as a 'collision'. It was impossible for the girl from the Czech Republic and the Maltese driver to dodge La Corte's kart. None of the other drivers in the group, fortunately, hit the lifeless Italian on the asphalt, avoiding further consequences. 
The medical staff, marshals and emergency vehicles were on the scene in good time to help the drivers. All the three drivers, as reported by the WSK, are now in quite good conditions after having been taken to the hospital of Padua with the support of the helicopter rescue service. A great relief in a day that could have had dramatic outcomes.



Prevention in the foreground - Events like the one at Adria, for which we are all breathing a sigh of relief today, remind us that the circumstances leading to a potentially very serious accident are unpredictable, in the most agitated phases of a race as well as in a crowded free practice session. In the case in point, the accident involving the three unfortunate drivers was mainly due to the invasion, by the kart out of control of one of the drivers, of a stretch of track that the group was driving on at high speed in the opposite direction - a rare occurrence but one that unfortunately can happen on some stretches of some tracks. At the end of two very long hours of waiting (with many drivers in an obvious state of worry about what had happened...) at Adria it was decided to continue with the Finals and finish the race programme, but not before adding a 'temporary' row of tyres in the run-off area where the incident took place, so that a situation like the one just before would not occur again. This proves that perhaps something can be done to prevent such potentially dangerous situations, not only on this track, but on all those sections of the track that present an "invasion risk" conformation (for example, when two fast sections are opposite each other), with the enormous danger that this can create when you are launched at around 100 km/h. There is no shortage of containment systems, although each clearly has its pros and cons, which we will try to explore in more detail on these pages with the technical opinion of the experts. Stay Tuned

Photo: KSP